Discourse analysis and Grammar

Lexical Cohesion Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis and Grammar

Principle of Cohesion

• the concept of cohesion in text is related to semantic ties or relations of meanings that exist within the text, and that define it as a text
• Without semantic ties, sentences or utterances would seem to lack any type of relationship to each other and might not be considered text.

Cohesion

•  Cohesion can be defined as the property that distinguishes a sequence of sentences that form a discourse from a random sequence of sentences. It is a series of lexical, grammatical and other relations which provide links between the various parts of a text. In studying cohesion we should make a distinction between “linguistic cohesion” and “pragmatic cohesion” or coherence.

Cohesion is concerned with the way in which the components of the SURFACE TEXT, i.e. the actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence. The surface components depend upon each other according to grammatical forms and conventions, such that cohesion rests upon GRAMMATICAL DEPENDENCIES. ... Thus, cohesion is the grammatical relationship between parts of a sentence essential for its interpretation

Definition

• • Lexical cohesion refers to the ties created between lexical elements, such as words and phrases.
• • These lexical ties can occur over long passages of text or discourse.
• • The primary types of lexical cohesion are: reiteration and collocation.

Lexical cohesion:

• It occurs when two words in a text are semantically related. It denotes links between words which carry meaning: verbs, nouns, adjectives.  Two types of lexical cohesion are differentiated, namely: reiteration and collocation.

 Reiteration adopts various forms, particularly synonymy, repetition, hyponymy or antonyms.

Synonymy

• •Beautiful: Attractive, Pretty, Lovely, Stunning
• •Fair: Just, Objective, Impartial, Unbiased
• •Funny: Humorous, Comical, Hilarious, Hysterical
• •Happy: Content, Joyful, Mirthful, Upbeat
• •Hardworking: Diligent, Determined, Industrious, Enterprising
• •Honest: Honorable, Fair, Sincere, Trustworthy
• •Intelligent: Smart, Bright, Brilliant, Sharp
• •Introverted: Shy, Bashful, Quiet, Withdrawn
• •Kind:Thoughtful, Considerate, Amiable, Gracious
• •Lazy: Idle, Lackadaisical, Lethargic, Indolent
• •Mean: Unfriendly, Unpleasant, Bad-tempered, Difficult
• •Outgoing: Friendly, Sociable, Warm, Extroverted
• •Rich: Affluent, Wealthy, Well-off, Well-to-do

Repetition

• Using the same word over again, but not restricted to the same morphological form:

E.g. using run(V), run(N), ran, running, runner,etc., all within the same text.

Repetition

• Example : The key to good, healthy studying is having breaks. Even short breaks can be very beneficial. A student ought to have a five minute break every hour. He can spend it watching TV, eating, drinking, relaxing or even taking a bath to stress out. Regular breaks are an important method for successful studying.

Synonymy

• Synonym is used to mean ‘sameness of meaning’.

• Lexical cohesion results from the choice of a lexical item that is in some sense synonymous or nearly synonymous with a preceding one;

E.g. sound with noise, cavalry with horses in: He was just wondering which road to take when he was started by a noise from behind him. It was the noise of trotting horses… He dismounted and led his horse as quickly as he could along the right-hand road. The sound of the cavalry grew rapidly nearer …

Antonymy

• A relational antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between the two meanings.

hyponymy

• Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than either synonymy or antonymy, but it refers to a much more important sense relation. It describes what happens when we say 'An X is a kind of Y'-
• -A daffodil is a kind of flower, or simply, A daffodil is a flower.“
• House is a hyponym of the subordinate building

Collocation

• A collocation is made up of two or more words that are commonly used together in English.
• to feel free
• to come prepared
• to save time
• to find a replacement
• to make progress
• to do the washing up

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